Pretoria - The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has been granted an order to retain over R13 million worth of assets belonging to former police crime intelligence boss Richard Mdluli and his co-accused.
Mdluli and his two co-accused, former South African Police Service (SAPS) supply chain manager Heine Barnard, as well as chief financial officer Solomon Lazarus, are facing charges of corruption, fraud and theft.
The charges against them stem from the time that they were employed by the state – between 2008 and 2012 – and were at the helm of the police crime intelligence services.
All three accused face charges related to the alleged abuse of the police’s secret slush fund. The allegations include the payment of private trips to China and Singapore, the private use of witness protection houses and the leasing of Mdluli’s private residence to the state in order to pay his bond.
In a statement on Wednesday Sindisiwe Seboka, the NPA investigating directorate’s spokesperson said Mdluli’s former and current wives, Theresa (Lyons) and Vusiwane Mdluli, John and Heena Appalsami (of Daez Trading, acting as letting agent), Heine Barnard’s wife Juanita Barnard, and Solomon Lazarus’ wife Sandra Lazarus are also implicated.
Seboka added that the restraint order was granted by the High Court on 1 June, 2022 and was served to the parties on Tuesday.
The Head of the Asset Forfeiture Unit advocate, Ouma Rabaji-Rasethaba, welcomed the restraint order against the accused in the matter.
“The NPA has a two-pronged strategy for prosecuting those responsible for looting state coffers, through criminal prosecution and also by taking away the proceeds of crime through asset forfeiture proceedings.
“We will not allow those who benefited from crime to hold onto the ill-gotten gains and they must feel that crime does not pay,” she said.
On 5 July, Mdluli was released on parole after he was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for kidnapping, assault, and intimidation, on September 29, 2020.
Mdluli’s charges emanate from the assault and kidnapping of Oupa Ramogibe, in 1998.
Ramogibe used to date Mdluli’s lover Tshidi Buthelezi.
Ramogibe was shot in 1999, and no one was ever convicted of his murder. Mdluli has been accused of sabotaging the investigation. Buthelezi also died in 2003, after an illness.
IOL